1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an adjustable applicator assembly and in particular, relates to an adjustable applicator capable of being adjusted to retain variable quantities of a product. The invention also relates to a container comprising said adjustable applicator assembly for storing and application of consumer products such as cosmetic, hair care or dental products. The adjustable applicator assembly of the present applicator heads are arranged to be movable relative to each other thereby resulting in change in density of the bristles of the applicator assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of applicators and systems have been designed and developed in the recent years. Conventionally, applicators include a shaft, at one end of which is connected an applicator head. As an example, mascara applicators such as twisted wire mascara brushes known in the art comprise of an applicator head in which a plurality of bristles are held together between a wire portion that is bent in shape of a hairpin by twisting the wire portion. Recently a number of brushes are being produced by injection molding process. Injection molded brushes are made of a base body from which stick out a number of bristles. The density of bristles in these brushes is fixed and therefore, a metered or fixed amount of product such as mascara remains between the bristles of the cosmetic applicator for application. This, however may not be desirable by the user as the user might wish to apply different amounts of product at different times as per the convenience and wish of the user. For example, for application of product such as mascara, the length, thickness, density and shape of eyelashes will vary considerably for every user and therefore, the amount of product required for application. Further, it may be desirable to apply different amounts of mascara on the upper and lower eyelashes, or apply different quantities for two different looks. For such kind of applications users generally need to carry and use separate applicators which have different bristle densities for providing desired effect.
There are also present applicators wherein the bristle density is varied in a single applicator thereby providing a zoned mascara brush, however, again the densities are fixed on the applicator. Examples include WO 1995/17837 to The Procter & Gamble Company which discloses a mascara brush separated into a bulk deposition section and a lash separation section and similarly WO 96/031143 to E-L Management Corp. also discloses zoned mascara brushes. These zoned brushes provide product deposition and lash separation properties in an applicator however, the area of the brush to be used by the user is limited for carrying out the steps of application and separation. Moreover, they are not able to provide the user with an option of getting two different bristle densities in the same brush at two different times for desired effect/application.
Over the years certain cosmetic applicators having adjustable features allowing for versatility in applying greater or lesser amount of product such as mascara have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,793 to Kingsford describes an adjustable mascara applicator in which the spacing between adjacent teeth of a comb can be varied for holding different amounts of mascara. The adjustable mascara applicator is formed by two adjacent comb sections, at least one of which is slidable relative to the other. However, in this case as the applicator is in the form of a comb, the user can only use it for lash separation and if used for product transfer then application of the product such as mascara to the eyelashes is inefficient. Moreover, wiping of excess product such as mascara from the teeth of the comb during the withdrawal thereof from the container storing the product is inefficient.
Therefore it becomes apparent from the above discussion that there exists a need for an applicator that is capable of retaining user-defined variable quantities of the product for application. Moreover, there is a need to provide an adjustable cosmetic applicator having teeth/bristles that extend circumferentially around the applicator head so as to provide efficient application of the product. There also exists a need for an applicator assembly that allows a user to adjust the spacing between the bristles of the applicator for application as per his/her requirements.